Singer Gram Parsons is considered the pioneer of the “Cosmic American Music” genre, which was a fusion of country, rhythm and blues, soul, folk and rock. He was friends with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, accompanied them on several recording sessions for the group’s early albums, and often made music together. Parsons has recorded solo records as well as with the International Submarine Band, the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers. His career was very short, but it had a huge impact on the next generation of artists – in 2003 Rolling Stone magazine placed him on the list of the 100 greatest artists of all time. Critics emphasize that he contributed so much to popularizing the mix of country and rock that the two genres became almost indistinguishable from each other.
They stole a friend’s corpse to fulfill his last wish
Gram Parsons died on September 19, 1973 in room eight at the Joshua Tree Inn. The musician had a great fondness for the Joshua Tree National Park, he was even fascinated by it. From the late 1960s, he often went there to rest between concerts, and used to take psychedelics, which were very popular at the time. That fall, Parsons was in bad shape – he was about to finalize his divorce from his wife Gretchen Burrel.
On September 17, Parsons went on a road trip to the Joshua Tree area with his girlfriend Margaret Fisher, roommate Phil Kaufman, assistant Michael Martin, and his partner Dale McElroy. During the expedition, the musician often went on expeditions into the desert, while the rest of the company hung out in local bars. With the exception of McElroy, they all consumed large amounts of alcohol and barbiturates. On September 18, Parsons bought liquid morphine from an unidentified woman, which he took that evening. As it turned out, the dose was lethal.
Fisher tried to save Parsons in various ways – ice cubes used as suppositories or a cold shower. However, instead of making him constantly move, they let him lie down in bed – his breathing became irregular and then stopped. McElroy tried to resuscitate him and an ambulance was called. Upon arrival at a hospital in Yucca Valley, doctors pronounced Parsons dead – the official cause of death was given as an overdose of morphine and alcohol.
Before his death, Parsons reportedly told his comrades that he wanted his body cremated at Joshua Tree and his ashes scattered over Cap Rock. However, the musician’s family decided to hold a private funeral in New Orleans, to which they did not invite any of his music friends.
Phil Kaufman decided to honor a friend’s last wish. He rented a hearse with Michael Martin. They sneaked into the Los Angeles International Airport and, posing as funeral home workers, convinced the airport workers that the deceased’s family had hired them at the last minute to transport the body to New Orleans. They managed to leave with the coffin and reach the desert. Near Cap Rock, they tried to cremate the body of a friend – they poured 18 liters of gasoline into the coffin and threw a match inside. The flames were so large that local residents called the police.
A few days later, the police caught Kaufman and Martin. Since there were no laws at the time specifically forbidding corpse stealing, they were fined $750 for stealing a coffin. No charges were brought against them, although the cremation was not fully successful and the remains of Parsons’ body were eventually interred at Garden of Memories Cemetery in Louisiana.
Source: Gazeta
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